Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Galatians [§ 198].

1 ¹Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead), ²and all the brethren with me, to the churches of Galatia: ³Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.... ²⁰Now the things which I write to you, behold, before the face of God, I lie not. ²¹Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judæa which are in Christ. But they were hearing only that “the one who once persecuted us now preacheth the faith as good tidings which once he used to ravage.” ²³And they were glorifying God in me.

2 ¹Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. ²And I went up according to revelation, and I laid before them the Gospel which I proclaim among the nations, but privately to those who were of repute, lest in any way I should be running, or ran, in vain. ³But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. ⁴Now on this account false brethren were introduced privily—who came in secretly to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus—in order that they might bring us into bondage to themselves; ⁵to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, in order that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark [§ 19]. At that time:

5 ¹Jesus came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gergesenes. ²And after He came forth out of the ship, straightway there met Him out of the sepulchers a man with an unclean spirit, ³who had his dwelling among the sepulchers; and no one was able to bind him, not even with chains, ⁴because he often had been bound, and the chains had been torn asunder by him, and the fetters had been broken in pieces, and no one was able to tame him. ⁵And throughout the night and day, he was in the mountains and in the sepulchers, crying out and cutting himself to pieces with stones. ⁶But after he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and made obeisance to Him. ⁷And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What is it to me and to Thee, Jesus, Son of God the Most High? I adjure Thee by God, do not begin to torment me.” ⁸For He was saying to him, “Come forth, thou spirit, the unclean one, out of the man!” ⁹And He was questioning him, “What is thy name?” And he answered, saying, “Legion is my name, because we are many.” ¹⁰And he was beseeching Him much that He would not send them away outside the country. ¹¹Now there was there toward the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. ¹²And all the demons besought Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we might enter into them.” ¹³And straightway Jesus gave them leave. And the spirits, the unclean ones, went out and entered into the swine (now they were about two thousand); and the herd rushed down the cliff into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea. ¹⁴And they who fed the swine fled, and brought back tidings to the city and to the country. And they went out to see what it was that had taken place. ¹⁵And they came to Jesus, and beheld the one who had been possessed by demons and had the legion, sitting and clothed and of sound mind; and they were afraid. ¹⁶And they who saw related to them how it happened to the one who had been possessed by demons, and concerning the swine. ¹⁷And they began to beseech Him to depart from their borders. ¹⁸And while He embarked into the ship, the one who had been possessed by demons was beseeching Him that he might be with Him. ¹⁹And Jesus did not allow him, but saith to him, “Go to thy house and to thine own, and bring tidings to them how much the Lord did for thee, and pitied thee.” ²⁰And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis how much Jesus did for him; and all were marvelling.

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of the Forefeast of the Cross, and the dedication of the Church of the Holy Resurrection of Christ our God.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 307].

3 ¹Holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, ²Who was faithful to the One Who made Him, as also was “Moses in all His house [cf. Num. 12:7].” ³For this One hath been deemed worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as the one who built the house hath more honor than it. ⁴For every house is built by someone; but the One Who hath built all things is God.

Gospel

For the Cross:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ mid 42]. The Lord said:

12 ²⁵“The one who loveth his life shall lose it; and the one who hateth his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. ²⁶“If anyone serve Me, let him keep on following Me; and where I am, there My servant shall be also. And if anyone serve Me, the Father shall honor him. ²⁷“Now My soul hath been troubled; and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’; but on this account I came to this hour. ²⁸“Father, glorify Thy name.” Then a voice came out of the heaven: “I both glorified it and will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd then that stood by and heard it was saying that thunder had occurred; others were saying, “An angel hath spoken to Him.” ³⁰Jesus answered and said, “This voice hath not occurred for My sake, but for your sakes. ³¹“Now is a judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. ³²“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.” ³³But He was saying this, signifying by what manner of death He was about to die. ³⁴The crowd answered Him, “We heard out of the law that the Christ abideth forever; and how sayest Thou, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵Then Jesus said to them, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Be walking while ye have the light, that darkness might not overtake you; and indeed the one who walketh in the darkness knoweth not where he goeth. ³⁶“While ye have the light, keep on believing in the light, that ye might become sons of light.” Jesus spoke these things, and departed, and was hidden from them.

For the Church of the Resurrection:

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 67]. At that time:

16 ¹³After Jesus came into the parts of Cæsarea Philippi, He began to ask His disciples, saying, “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, and others Elias, and others Jeremias or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He saith to them, “But ye, whom do ye say that I am?” ¹⁶And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, the living One.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said to him, “Happy art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood did not reveal this to thee, but My Father Who is in the heavens. ¹⁸“And I say also to thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

September 26th – Civil Calendar
September 13th – Church Calendar

1. The Consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ.

When the holy Empress Helena found the Lord’s Cross in Jerusalem, she stayed longer in the city and built churches in Gethsemane, in Bethlehem, on the Mount of Olives and in other places that commemorated the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. On Golgotha, where she found the Precious Cross, she began to build an enormous church, under whose roof would be the places both where the Lord was crucified and where He was buried, the holy empress wanting to bring under one roof the places of His suffering and His glory. But Helena went to the Lord before this magnificent church was completed. It was finished in the same year in which Constantine completed thirty years on the throne, and so the consecration of the church and the emperor’s Jubilee were fixed for the same day, September 13th, 335. At that time, a local council of bishops was meeting in Tyre. These bishops, with many others, made their way to Jerusalem, to the solemn consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord. It was then instituted that this day, as a day of victory and triumph for the Church of Christ, should be celebrated every year.

2. The Hieromartyr Cornelius the Centurion.

A Roman and an officer in Palestinian Caesarea, he was baptized by the Apostle Peter after a heavenly vision (Acts 10:1), and was the first pagan to enter the Church of God. Until then, some thought that the Church of Christ was only for the Jews and for those who received Jewish circumcision. Being baptized, Cornelius left everything and followed the Apostle Peter. The apostle later made him bishop and sent him to the pagan town of Skepseis, where holy Cornelius suffered much humiliation and pain for the sake of Christ. But, by the power of God, he destroyed the temple of Apollo and baptized the prince of that town, Demetrius, and two hundred and seventy seven pagans. Forewarned by God of the day of his death, he gathered all the Christians together, gave them counsel, prayed to God and peacefully went to his Lord full of years. In time, his grave was forgotten and neglected, but the saint appeared to Silvanos, the Bishop of Troas, and showed him the whereabouts of his grave, commanding him to build a church there. The bishop did so, with the help of a wealthy citizen, Evgenios. Many miracles have been performed over his relics.

3. The Holy Martyrs Macrobius and Gordian.

From Pamphlagonia, they were at first imperial cup-bearers, but when they revealed that they were Christians, the emperor exiled them to Sceta, where they were cast into the flames in a place called New Danube, in the year 320.

4. The Holy Martyr Ketevana, Queen of Georgia.

She suffered as a Christian under Shah Abbas I, in 1624. By order of the Shah, a white-hot helmet was placed on her head. Her son Taymuraz, King of Georgia, laid her relics under the throne in the church at Alaverdsk in Georgia.

5. Our Holy Father Hierotheos.

Born in the Peloponnese in the village of Kalamata, he lived in asceticism in the monastery of Iviron on the Holy Mountain. He was distinguished by great secular learning and by strict monastic asceticism, and was at pains to fulfill the rule of St. Arsenius: ‘It is enough for a monk to sleep one hour out of the twenty-four.’ He entered into rest in 1745 on the island of Varos, and his relics have wonder-working power. Of these relics, his head is preserved in the monastery of Iviron. On touching his holy relics in Constantinople, a blind woman received her sight.

FOR CONSIDERATION

What happens to the persecutors of Christ’s Church? Ask Saul, the persecutor of the Church, what happened to him. ‘It is hard for thee to kick against the goads’ (Acts 9:5), said the Lord to Saul, and Saul was baptized and became Paul. What happened to Herod, the first persecutor of Christians? What happened to Julian the Apostate! They died an evil death, and their struggle against Christ dispersed into nothing, like smoke. And so throughout history: some persecutors became Christians and others had an evil end. The efforts of the one and the other against Christianity dispersed into nothing, like smoke. The Emperor Hadrian, attacking Jerusalem, meant to be revenged not only on the Jews but also on the Christians, making no distinction between the two. He scattered the Jews throughout the world, and in the place where Solomon’s Temple had been, built a temple for idol-worship. He also re-named Jerusalem Aelia, after his own name, and forbade anyone to call it Jerusalem. He built a temple on Golgotha to the foul Venus, a temple to Zeus over the Lord’s tomb and a temple to Adonis in Bethlehem. How distressed the Christians of that time must have been, seeing their holy places defiled in such a way! But what happened in the end? The Emperor Hadrian died an evil death, and the pagan temples were pulled down in the time of the Empress Helena and the Emperor Constantine, who in their place built beautiful churches, some of which remain to this day. ‘It is hard to kick against the goads.’ Oh, what a hopeless despair is the lot of all who struggle against Christ!

Daily Scripture Readings taken from The Orthodox New Testament, translated and published by Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado, copyright © 2000, used with permission, all rights reserved.

Daily Prologue Readings taken from The Prologue of Ochrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, translated by Mother Maria, published by Lazarica Press, Birmingham, England, copyright © 1985, all rights reserved. Edited by Dormition Skete.